You can always count me in for a solid pop album, and Secret Dakota
Ring, the solo project of OK Go's
Andy Ross, delivers the goods. Cantarell is an infectious and exciting record, providing novelty with
a variety of different sounds and song structures, but keeping things
uniformly melodic throughout. The latest release out of the exciting
Serious Business label, this also happens to be the
best I've heard from them - pretty good news considering Andy Ross
co-runs the imprint.

Cantarellsees Rossthread together
nine very eclectic pop songs into one cohesive whole. On this disc, we
get a real jumble of sounds: strings-augmented orchestral pop
on "They
Got the Wrong Guy," Man-Made era Teenage Fanclubcloning on "I Blew Myself
Up Over You," and My Bloody Valentine-esque shoegaze on "Sell Us a
Spaceship." Despite the songs' impressive variety, however, Cantarell
is a remarkably together album - it has its own distinct and
recognizable sound, which bodes well for repeated listens.Indeed,
this album begs you to come back again, with an abundance of pop gems
eager to hook you.

Enthralling "The Fade To Black" is the album highlight: a boppy
rhythm is combined with piano and strings to create an insanely
infectious pop song in the vein of The Meligrove Band. Also
especially impressive are lush "Red Light" and wistful "Still Awake."
The sore spots, meanwhile, are virtually non-existent on Cantarell.
Although some songs aren't as memorable as others (especially the flat
but brief "Elephants"), nothing here is disappointing in a general
sense. Instead it seems as ifSecret Dakota Ring's
Andy Ross has created an absolute
delight of a pop album; if intrepid OK Go fans are disappointed by the
dissimilarity between this and "Here It Goes Again," they'll no doubt
be won over by an otherwise great record.